Messengers of the Blood
15 months Pass Right after arriving back in Birthalis, Cid received a message about his home region. He returned home to retake his ancestral home. The undead were killed but the vampire usurper escaped (the vampire later appears in the Curse Breakers' visions and becomes part of the Tenebrous Council). Cid has now retaken his throne and is working to rebuild. The Queen of Xiltar is assassinated by jealous ex-lover. Xam believes there is more to it than is readily known. Queens have considerable protection and the fact that the previous Xiltar ambassador had been assassinate is too much coincidence for her. Eoward the cloaked has vanished from the city. The transition of leadership to his chief lieutenant was smooth and orderly indicating it was planned. Malcontents of Birthalis are now whispering that the empress will make things right again. There isn't an empress and the word used is a Xalar term. Negotiations Negotiations led by Giovane Arrabbiato to avert the destabilization of the Three-Army Pass region are underway. Illigyr and Xalar have both agreed to a treaty modification along the lines of the existing Starmetal treaty. Talks with the Great Neck Empire have not officially begun, largely due to the lack of high ranking contacts within the Empire. The local GNE ambassador is -- out of favor -- with the emperor, and while strongly in favor of the treaty modification, has bowed out of the negotiations. The ambassador is so far out of favor with the Emperor that the Emperor would almost automatically deny anything that the ambassador was strongly in favor of. Secret Summons to Lord Berthan Berthan has a letter for the party to take to the Queen of Illigyr. They are to act as envoys to establish an in-person meeting between the queen and the emperor of the Xalar empire. Both of the previous couriers Berthan sent have died without delivering the letter. The first messenger went by ship shortly after the Comity's return to Birthalis. The second messenger traveled by land alone and was sent as soon as Berthan knew the previous messenger had failed (7 months ago). The letter is important to the empire's survival. The party is also asked to find out why the envoys didn't deliver the letter. (I think the party has at least one really good lead). A herald walks in and says the Xiltar ambassador and a cousin to the emperor are heading to the room. The cousin is a calvary captain of the imperial army. He is a rising star. The Xiltar ambassador has been summoned to the Xiltar capital. Berthan would like the team to escort the ambassador to the capital and then continue with the other mission. The team will take her and her chosen force (a lieutenant and 8 soldiers). The Ambassador will also be escorted by the Calvary Captain, 20 Xalar officers, and 40 men-at-arms. The Envoy package includes a public letter sealed and gilded (we have an unsealed version) and a secret document-Sealed (Meeting is to discuss the marriage of the emperor to the queen's youngest daughter. Trail to the Xiltar Capital Out of sight and ears of eavesdroppers, Xam revealed the name of the young Xiltari Noble woman in the team's dreams: Chilexi jin Chedena. Giovane in his empathetic way reminded that one "can't choose your family." Xam indicated she believed her whole family was not of the same mentality. She cautioned Chilexi and her grandmother were very skilled manipulators. The party took off with the assembled soldiers and cavalry. They crossed a bridge over the Blood River and entered Xiltar. Before long, the group was ambushed by a group of men's rights brigands. They insulted and threatened the Xiltar Ambassador, asking the team to hand her over. Xam was able to identify the locations of the main groups of bandits and three assassins hiding in the trees. Xam and Kayden closed with two of the assassins while Jung Fei killed the bandit spokesman and Giovane started attacking the third assassin. The assassins shot poisoned arrows at the ambassador. She was injured but survived. It was a bloody battle, the allied team lost 21 people but in the end all 95 bandits were killed or captured. Three bandit groups were hired by the three assassins in the tree. The bandits had never seen the faces of the three assassins. The three in the trees were well known assassins operating in the capital city of Xiltar. The bandits were hired for a fairly good amount of money and the opportunity to take out the ambassador. One assassin did know the spear group bandit leader personally. No other personal connections are known about. The three assassins were hired by someone else. The three bandit groups were: The Band of swords who operated in the mountains to the east. The spear brothers operated around the farms to the south. The third group had the swamp near the Blood River. There is a bowmen bandit group on the trade route to the south of the Xiltar capital. 5 groups of any power exist before Xiltar City. They operate along the main trade routes. Their capabilities are similar to the others. The Xiltar Ambassador is not liked by the male troops and even the women respect her more than like her. As the entourage traveled, most of the inns were not up to the ambassador's standards and the group camped outside the towns in their tents. Finally, they came to a town where the inn was acceptable. The Ambassador, the Xalar captain, the head of the ambassador's guard and Xam ate in a private dining area. The rest of the team remained in the main dining area. Jung Fei ate with Patsy at a table while Shimmer and Giovane maintained vigilance. Drink were served and everyone was getting drunk off the wine. The three in the main room sensed something was wrong and realized the wine had been poisoned. Jung Fei rushed to worn Xam about the problem and then went searching for the person responsible. Xam handed out three vials of resist toxin to the others at the table then hypnotized herself and overcame the poison. The ambassador and her captain were ok but the Xalar captain was in very bad shape. While Shimmer came in to help the three at the table, Xam sneaked around to the windows to see if anyone was outside. She caught sight of one of the serving boys who was sneaking very carefully and as competently as Cid. Xam jumped out the window and grabbed him. In her arms, the boy said in a arrogant, non-noble tone that he had already succeeded in his mission, then slumped unconscious. The boy had been possessed by someone. Xam tossed the boy back inside and then ran around the inn to check on the soldiers. Meanwhile, shimmer ran up the stairs to the second floor. The Xalar cavalry were very sick except for one person who apparently slept through the whole thing. Shimmer 'charged' Ceramist with neutralize poison and sent her familiar to cure Patsy. She then went and cured everyone who was still suffering further affects of poison. In the main serving room of the inn, Jung Fei warned people not to drink the wine but they wouldn't listen. Instead, he ordered the staff to clear the tables and prevent the people from getting poisoned further. He then went about trying to stabilize people. Amistela communicated with one of the still sober staff and mentally told them how to treat the patrons. Outside, Xam notified everyone of the poisoning and organized the healers to treat each other and then the troops. Due to the quick action of the Curse Breakers, only 7 people died. Giovane was able to convince the ambassador to delay her travels 2 weeks and she even paid for all the people in the inn. The delay allowed Shimmer using her powers to heal all the troops back to full health while the healers treated the civilian victims using mundane means. Jung Fei was able to confirm the wine had been poisoned. The boy didn't have any memory of the last 3 days. His last memory was meeting a woman. Xhimril As the group continued towards the Xiltar Capital Xhimril, they were attacked by another group of three bands of brigands which had been hastily patched together. They were weak and without experienced assassins, were easily defeated.. They were hired by one guy who kept referring to himself in the feminine gender. The pay was really good. They were each hired by a different guy but the guys all had the same lilts to their voice. We believe they were possessed by the same person who possessed the earlier inn's bar boy.. The suspected mind possessor is very attractive and had standard human colorings. When the party arrived in Xhimril, they were greeted at the palace by a sizable delegation Xarnia Rel Xermallen, a member of the loyalist camp. As the party discovered, she is relatively unskilled in politics and could be easily out maneuvered. Her family is one of the oldest in Illigyr and one pf the most powerful. She is also a good friend to the Illigyr Queen's daughters. Ximberleen Jin Nevilthur, a member of the doves. She started from nothing and built her family and her self up economically and politically over the decades. She is a merchant who is as wealthy as any two of the Curse Breakers combined. Her focus is on international overland trade She is very politically suave but is likely to make deals which benefit the Xalar Empire far more than Xiltar would benefit. The Bureaucrats and merchants back her. Xam's sister and some other family members. She is backing Xiltar's current Ambassador to Birthalis. They are both very strong hawks. The Illigyr ambassador the party met in Marthix. Her group stood behind Rel Xarmalon, backing her for ascension. Her family is younger and subservient to them. Xarnia Rel Xermallen didn't like the Curse Breakers at all. This raised concern because she is a loyalist and the team had several contacts among the 'dogs.' Her hatred was personal. Rel Xermallen is allied with the Delarosas. When scanned by Giovane, Lady Xermallen showed up green just like the green on her family's shield. The team had seen the color before, it meant she was a werewolf. Some other members of the house also showed green but not all of them. Xam later conjectured about a possible connection between the Matron's state and possible reasons for the family's crest. They are known as the 'Queen's Dogs.' The team was escorted to Xam's House. It wasn't a house. It was a complex of mansions. They were given the father-in-law suite. It was about the size of Xam's house in Birthalis. During a welcome party, Xam was talking to someone the party had never seen before. The women talked and giggles like old friends. Jung Fei noticed a young adult Xeph male looking at Xam and her friend. Jung Fei approached and had a conversation with the young man. The first night, the team was invited to a state dinner. There were cat fights among the very minor/young people. The diplomatic game kicked off. There was really high level politicking going on among the more experienced aristocrats.. Xam's sister was driving the politics. Lady Xermallen showed she couldn't hold off Xam's sister in the diplomatic game. Left alone, she would end up as a pawn. Nevilthur could hold Xam's sister at bay. Xam was able to find out Xermallen blamed the Curse Breakers for the death of her love, a young Xalar knight who was killed a few years ago in Birthalis. Xam admitted to Giovane her involvement and begged him to help her in healing the rift for the sake of both countries and the goal of defeating the Tenebrous Council. After an intense discussion, Xermallen accepted the following: Her lover had ulterior motives in pursuing her. She was seduced. She wasn't his only love interest (some love letters were concurrent with hers). She accepted he used her to establish connections which helped him commit the assassination of the previous Xiltar ambassador to Birthalis. She is actually not really happy with the because the previous ambassador was a centrist dove. The ambassador had been as dovish as she was because it helped increase trade. Without peace you can't get stronger. She accepted the execution of her former boyfriend was probably performed by an agent of the Xalar Empire who took care of the problem quietly so as not to cause international issues. The closest person to a consensus 4th party candidate is Xam. During an outside party hosted by the doves, Xam noticed a glint of something on the roof of a nearby building and realized it was an assassin. She moved to protect the hawk candidate while Shimmer and Giovanni moved to protect the other candidates. Xam tackled the woman and was hit with a ethereal bolt. Jung Fei grabbed a guard's bow and when the assassin came under attack, the assassin used dimension door or a similar power to escape. The party was not able to identify the assassin, however the merchants do favor the doves and would have reason to murder the hawk candidate. Also, it is likely they would have sympathizers in the dove delegation who could provide them with information on the event and its location. Giovani identified a few other werewolves. One female is a noble of an allied dog house. Two males are non-noble servants to house Xermallen. Nevilthur and Xam's sister were present at the Queens gala where they where she was assassinated. There was supposed to be an important announcement. Using a psionic power, Shimmer and others were able to see the assassination of the queen. A couple faces looked like they expected the ex-lover to show up. The lover summoned into his hand a quad crossbow monstrosity. The bolts were poisoned and before anyone could react he hit the queen with all four. Immediately after the queen was shot the ex-lover's expression changed. He looked like he was surprised he was there (he had been a victim of a mind switch. Reading expressions, the party could tell a few people knew he was coming: Xam's sister Nevilthur Xermallon's top advisor three younger females The party could also tell some people's reactions at the assassination: Lady Nevilthur was horrified, shocked and glad. The Loyalist advisor was surprised that it happened 'here and now.' Xam's sister was reacting very carefully in the way everyone was expected to. The conclusion was she knew it would happen there and then. There are two guards with just loaded crossbows who looked kind of sheepish (they had let their guard down and unintentially failed their duty). They failed to react quickly to protect their queen. Jung Fei followed the town guard bureaucrat home from work. Becoming a rat and using and unbelievable degree of stealth, he snuck into the woman's house and sat at her table and in her hair unnoticed. Note at bureaucrats house: Mirjal wine at (tavern) signed 'Bernice.' Jung Fei was carried (unwittingly) by Mirjal to the tavern. Bernice was someone no would argue with. She looked like the person who tells fat tony to move the furniture. Bernice was also a commoner. Bernice was arranging for a smuggled shipment to go across the sea several days from now. The next 'package' to be shipped out of the city was for the day after tomorrow. The mission would only be paid after completion Bernice was the immediate felicitator of the bureaucrat delaying the team at the gate. The bureaucrat was the expediter extraordinair. She was an independent agent. Mirjal is a completely independent agent. Also in the tavern, the huntress was talking to Lady Nevilthur. They were talking about the up coming party. The huntress was a supporter of Lady Nevilthur. The huntress wants to get the party under control. The believe the Curse Breakers are just too uncontrolled. Everybody in the inn except for a Bernice and a few outliers are bureaucrats or traders. The tavern is one of Nevilthur's bases of operations. Later, Mirjal stopped by a dive. She met a guard underling. The guard was Mirjal's brother. The mission was a night job with standard pay. Standard Job no risk. She was worried that Bernice might have blamed them for the last job. The brother convinced Mirjal to hand the mission off to someone else who wanted a piece of the action. During the talk, Mirjal revealed, she wanted to get Giovane into bed. After Mirjal finished talking with her brother, Jung fei followed the brother. He went over to Pauli who is really enthusiastic about doing a job. They pick up a cart with a person sized hiding box. It is designed to go through a hidden tunnel where it is picked up by another cart on the outside. The smuggling was set for 4 AM after the next day party. The party was officially scheduled to end 4 hours after sunset. Xam followed Bernice from the tavern. Bernice traveled to a mid-ranked noble family merchant's house. The family had a huge military tradition and was a member of the hawks. The second daughter always went into the military the first daughter went into the merchants or the military. The third daughter went into politics or the military. They are always the hawks. 4th daughters are never in the running for house mother. The family is strongly connected to Xam's family. Bernice went right to the main office. She was greeted warmly and friendly by the House Matron. Bernice was revealed as the head chamberlain of the house. The head of the house is lady Xatheloi. The matron discussed things with Bernice. Xam recognized her from the hawk party right behind Xam's sister. She was a member of the triumverate. Bernice toled lady Xatheloi: The problem should be resolved twice over tomorrow night. She will not be a trouble anymore. The matron replied: I didn't like being in debt to that common bitch. She has proved useful in the past but so inconvenient to our plans this time. If she insists on being independent she takes the risks. Mirjal is one of the 'shes'. The other is whoever the assassin was. Apparently the assassin contacted the noble house for assistance in breaking the ambassador away from the team at the gate. The Xathalois were upset that the assassin had used them to arrange the cutout. They knew the assassin wanted to separate the hawk from the group they thought it was the Xalar contingent was the target. After talking, the two women retired to the same chamber. When the day of the party arrived, Jung Fei and Xam scouted out the party location. The woman in charge of security was apparently born into nobility but was kicked out. She tried hard to hide her tells. Speaking with her, the Curse Breakers could tell she hated nobles aside from the ones she served. The party was to occure in an open area with three buildings as likely assassin hiding places. They also found out what Lady Xarmallon's favorite foods were incase someone tried poison. For the party various people had arranged escorts. Xam was going with Lexi's brother. Shimmer was going with the Xalar Cavalry Captain. Jung Fei was going with ? The Curse Breaker's still need to speak with Lady Xarmallon in private to address the problem of catching the assassin before she is killed to silence her. Jung Fei arrived at the party early and was present when each of the delegations arrived. In the younger crowd lots of people are expecting something specific going down. There was a similar attitude in some of the older contingent. A number of people were carefully controlling themselves. Some were scared. It is their compatriots who expect something vicious. A number of attendees were carrying concealed daggers. In some cases, the host already knew about the weapons being carried. Nevilthur was looking forward to putting a business rival in her place. Therefor the participation was for 'cat fights.' During the party, Xam's sister offered to throw her support behind Lady Xarmallon. She didn't say why, she but she wanted to be appointed to the imperial Xalar court. Of the other appointments, she wanted to make the ambassador the general over Xiltar's army. In general, the appointments would give her control over all military relationships for Xiltar. The non-blatant appointments were actually more important than the two major ones. Meanwhile, Nevilthur's daughter was arranging business deals with the loyalists. She was not using her mother's network . Her current business wasn't confirmed. She was showing some competence in her dealings. The party caught sight of a waiter who was acting oddly by moving almost directly towards Chilexi. Xam couldn't get close enough to read the surreptitiously passed note. However, the look on Chilexi's face indicated that she had just learned a lot of what she was doing was wrong for her goals. After passing the note, the waiter walked across the courtyard and behind a building. Out of sight, he phased out, apparently entering the plane of shadow. Shortly there after, the main dinner commenced. Several things happened in quick succession. Xam noticed Lady Xarmallon got hit by a Ephemeral Bolt, fired from the building behind Xam. At nearly the same time, the sound of an angry mob could be heard over the wall. Giovane rose up to provide cover to the loyalist candidate. Jung Fei ran to the kitchen (the building the assassin was on top of) to get his bow. Shimmer went over to the Loyalist and Xam got up and ran towards Mirixil jin Xetiral. Lexi moved near Nevilthur. The daughter of the mid-ranked Hawk house's matron, stabbing Mirixil and injuring her. Xam tried to tackle the young attacker but missed. She also accused her of being the mind rider. The assailant then waved to her mother, said she wasn't being mind ridden and then Dimension Doored away. Meanwhile, Giovane had to fly to the wall to try to talk down the rioters who were at the wall; there were several hundred. Giovane was able to talk down a third of the commoners. The others continued and began to break through the weak points in the wall. The gathered nobles began to freak out. Xam ordered them to head to the north wall where there was an exit and no rioters on the other side. Shimmer stayed with Lady Xarmallon, prepared to heal her when the bolts were activated. Xam made a pathetic attempt to intimidate one group of rioters to hold back or chase after her. Luckily, Giovane was able to talk down more of the crowd. Jung Fei was finally able to get his bow and run up the wall of the building to face the assassin. The assassin then dimension doored out and activated the bolts. Shimmer was able to manifest her healing and save Xarmallon's life. Xam ran over to protect Nevilthur as the remaining rioters engaged Lexi and the others. Nevilthur's daughter Xamber, stabbed her mother with a poisoned dagger and then both collapsed. Xam was the only one who caught sight of the incident. Giovane was able to talk the remaining combatants down. When the situation had calmed, Shimmer moved to Nevilthur, cured the poison and revived her. When Nevilthur was revived Xamber (her daughter) said “dammit.” After the mob dispersed, the party and the three candidates retired to a secure room to have a conversation. Xam revealed the ancient wizard and/or the Tenebrous Council may be involved in wanting various candidates dead. She pointed out there were likely groups in their supporters who were behind it and there were discussions on the amount of money needed to hire the assassins and how that would be kept quiet. She also stated her beliefs of where in the power structure each of the three candidates would serve best for Xiltar. The Hawk and Dove candidates were going to meet privately later to discuss their political options. Meanwhile, the party was going to try to track down at least one of the assassins and bring them in for questioning. The party went to the meeting place. Giovane bribed the hired thugs to leave. The person being shipped out was in a locked box. After a series of traps went off and the person in the box was saved by Shimmers quick action, the party found out more of how hard the game was being played. The mind switching assassin had drugged the woman who tried to kill the hawk candidate in the hopes she would be killed by her mother's hired goons. Based on the note found in the box, the mind switcher is an unrecognized daughter to the mid-level hawk house. After interrogating the drugged woman, the party tried to prevent the assassin's escape. At the docks, Xam recognized a ship whose name had recently been changed. It was the ship the first messenger from the Xalar Empire had disappeared on (actually the who ship had disappeared). The assassin was on board as the who team converged on the port. Xam and Jung Fei boarded the ship and performed reconnaissance. The sailors all seemed more competent than most; as competent as many captains. The captain was quite competent though not as much so as the party. One the middle deck, Xam found cannons whose portals couldn't be seen from the outside. Shimmer was able to identify the alchemical solutions next to the launchers as alchemical fire and acid canisters which would activate when contacted by air. The suspected assassin had disappeared but Jung Fei was able to climb the side of the ship and located her meditating in the Captain's Quarters. When the pilot and harbor master boarded the ship, the party acted. Jung Fei entered the room and declared her arrest. She responded by turning around and throwing an alchemical substance at him. The substance was and inhalation poison of some type. She also managed to quickly manifest a magical attack which the team later concluded was a death attack. Giovane moved to the bottom of the gain plank and declared the party's intention to arrest a suspected assassin. He threatened harm to any who interfered. The sailors stood down until the captain offered a 500gp reward for anyone who killed one of the team members. Meanwhile Jung Fei tried to subdue the assassin. His arrows hit well but not enough to bring her down. She threw another bag at him and he resisted the attack. Shimmer turned insubstantial and moved to float beside Giovane. Xam tumbled into the room and attacked the assassin. Though the move was graceful, Xam over reached in her initial attack and found herself having to recover. The sailors began to converge on the captain's quarters. The assassin threw a bag at Xam but she was able to hold her breath, Another psionic attack killed Jung Fei. Xam swung her weapon and missed then followed threw with a tanglefoot bag which hit but didn't stick her to the floor. Xam then tumbled back out of the room where the sailors were waiting. Giovani opened up with an attack which killed a sailor and wounded others. The captain accused the team of being pirates and moved to the main deck. Shimmer sent a trail of fire up and threw the ranks, severely wounding the captain and several other sailors. The sailors attacked Xam and Giovani but didn't have a great amount of success. Giovane responded by sending a blast which killed the captain and a couple other soldiers. Xam pulled Jung Fei's body out of the Captain's quarters and slammed the door shut. She then used a tangle foot bag to seal the door. With the captain dead, the sailors stood down on Giovane's request and a flash of light told the party the assassin D-doored away; capturing her would be more difficult than party had hoped. Xam revealed who she was and told the harbor master, the fighting was over and the assassin had escaped. After the crew of the vessel the assassin was on surrendered, a message was sent to the three candidates for Queen of Xiltar. They arrived and Jung Fei explained the operation of the alchemical launchers found on board. Xam suggested they continue discussion in a safer place away from the ship. Xam continued to search the ship and found 3 ships logs: one in plain view, another one with a red tenebrous symbol and one saying Kingsblade (the ship's former name). The council's log starts 15 years ago (the Kingsblade first set sail 17 years ago). The council has had control of the ship for 17 years. That is around the year when the Xalar Empress and the heir of Xalar went missing aboard another ship. Xam also found charts which she memorized. There were many ports marked on the charts with the council symbol. The majority are on the southern and western parts of the three central seas. All the major ports have the symbol. After giving the facts to the candidates the Giovane spent the next 3 days covertly and subtly shifting support to the loyalist, Xarnia. Meanwhile, Xam kept a close watch on her sister. She was setting herself up to become ambassador to the Xalar Imperial court. She did this by going to mid-level events and using her subtle diplomatic skills to shift support towards or away from herself, depending on which group (popular or unpopular/trusted or untrusted) she was dealing with. Xam told the others and asked Giovane to help counteract the move. Preferably having the woman get appointed to someplace she would be able to cause the least harm. Giovane was exquisite. She got a new appointment to the north east part of Xalar; to the court of the sultan who is the liege of Cid. This was not something she wanted in the least. At the next party Giovane met a man who's cloak was fluttering without a breeze. He was dressed in white trousers, a cloak and shirt. He glowed blue in Giovane's sight. This was guessed as a psionics and air mix. Approaching Giovane, he revealed he had been looking for Giovane for some time. The man gave his name as Megos. Xam noted Megos and Giovane had some similarities in their features. Nevilthur's daughter is the new Ambassador to Birthalis. Nevilthur's daughter is content. The old ambassador is the Military Advisor to Xarnia. Xarnia, the queen-apparent is known as an explorer. She spent lots of time going into unclaimed territories. The new Queen granted each member of the party a large boon and the new military advisor would help also. Another regretable event was the excape of the prsioner left with the loyalists. The guards had killed each other (an act the party had seen before with the use of the death urge power). The conclusion was that the assassin broak her sister out of the prision. Coronation in Xiltar The Curse Breakers witnessed the coronation of Queen Xarnia Xiltir nee Xarmallon on the Summer Solstice of 975(?). The team was seated in the first row along with prominent members of Xarnia's supporters An attendant to one of the house sisters is hiding from the party but is seated at the end of the same row. He is the guy the Curse Breakers sent back to warn the Were-queen telling them we don't want to see him again. Xarnia was the queen in question. The ceremony has actors representing all the previous queens of Xiltar and three priests representing the Three-Fold Gods. The ceremony reminds the team of a marriage ceremony where the queen is wed to the land. She made various oaths including bringing the light to the darkness. Which could be looked at in several different ways. In fact, after sundown, she walked through the streets of the city carrying a candle. During the post coronation reception, the party were ushered into the queen's presence. She thanked the team for their help and asked what they would like. The most significant limitation on the 'boon' was it could not violate the oaths she just made. Giovane asked for the successful achievement of a fair treaty over the star crystals at the Bloodstar Mine. He demonstrated how a crystal could be made to glow and stated there were far more significant effects they could be used for. Jung Fei asked to have a DoJo created in Xiltar. Xiltar proposed full funding and construction provided Jung Fei spent half the year there and trained her people. Jung Fei agreed and the DoJo will be built in the capital. Xam didn't request anything for the time being Xam requested nothing at present. Xarnia also presented the team with gifts. Xam receives a masterpiece star metal chain shirt. It was the chain shirt once worn by the queen of Xiltar 2 wars back. Giovane was given a masterpiece star metal spear encrusted with star crystals. It was once used by the general who was a fighting priest of Xalaphel, god of fate. Jung fei receives a masterpiece composite longbow. Strength +2. The bow is made entirely of a blue-green sheen metal. This was the bow of general of the armies, Xaxali. He was one of the legendary archers of Illygir. The queen didn't know what the metal was or where the general found it. It apparently allowed the arrows fired from it to hit with a special quality. Xam recognized the metal as the one associated with water (quick metal) but said nothing at the time. The next group to have and audience with the new queen would normally be members of her house but they were not. The people all glowed different shades of bright green to Giovane's sight. Every single one of them had a different animal badge on their person. The team suspected they each represented one of the types of Therianthropes. Xam's mother was present and they had a good encounter. It was implied Xam was given the right of child by her mother who is very approving of her choices in male companions. Xam's mother showed interest in Giovane. Through further pursuit of the crime syndicate's papers and dealings, the party was able to ascertain the Mindrider is sister to both the crime lord matron and the crime lord matron's daughter. Giovane met a mysterious man. When Giovane scanned him, he detected hints of white. He asked who Giovane's relatives were and other things to confirm his suspicions. He wanted to call him 'brother.' Their dad didn't stay in the same city very long. The man was searching for other half-siblings. There weren't very many of them who shared another characteristic in common: all four of the Darelth races are in their bloodline. It took time to track their father down and just as long to track Giovane down. The other thing he noticed they all share is all of them have a bit of a temper. He had a business proposition for Giovane but didn't explain what it was at the time. Despite Xam and Jung Fei sneaking about, they weren't able to find any incriminating information which was understandable to the two of them. Before the party continued on their mission, Xam asked the queen if there was a message she wished sent to the Queen of Illigyr. The queen gave the party 2 letters. The first was a general letter to Illygir. The other was to one of the Dogs at the queen's court. He isn't the queen's guard but the head of the palace guard. He is from a noble family their crest is a dog carrying a spear in its mouth and its feet resting on peace garlands. The palace guard family was the family the Delarosas split from. Onward through Illigyr They cautiously traveled on, aware one or more of the assassins might being targeting them. The team reached a large town on the boarder with Birixil. The inn and tavern in town had a large warbear and wagon parked outside it. Sneaking in, Xam found a large band of mercenaries in a far corner. Observing, Xam could tell they were too disciplined to be bandits. The oldest of the bunch was a human who stood 5' 11” and had white hair. He was in his early forties and had a cigar in his mouth. He wore a chain shirt, dire long sword and a superior mighty composite longbow. Another man with pretty long hair wore a chain hauberk, chain shirt and a dire rapier. The rapier's scabbard isn't black its just leather but it looks black. Later, the team discovered the rapier was dark metal. The third guy was large and the strongest Goliath they had ever seen. He was wearing a Devonian steel definitive harness. He was carrying a dire great sword, a large shield and a mighty composite longbow which was the thickest they had seen. The lightest armored of the bunch wore a leather coat and carried a dark metal scimitar and longbow. He was likely a scout. The pretty boy was an akashic. The old guy reminded the team of Yscobo (a lurk) all of them are better than the team. Sitting at two nearby tables were 8 other mercenaries. Xam and Jung Fei remained hidden in the inn while Giovane entered the place. He approached the four mercenaries, sensing psionics. He could tell the white haired man was generating magic, but he didn't know what. Giovane asked why the man was 'concentrating' so hard but the guy just brushed it off. Deciding to risk attacking the group without proof they were assassins, Xam threw an area tanglefoot bag at the group. The bag had very little effect on the group but before they could attack, Xam threw one with poison-one of the bags used by the Tenebrous Council people at the old sawmill. Xam then threw another at the mercs and the scout. The poison paralyzed the long haired man and some of the weaker mercenaries. Xam and Giovane fell back and outside while Jung Fei remained hidden. The assassins took the time to scrape off the goo while Xam ascended to the roof with Giovane's help. The mercs were as a team and after two of them told their leaders Xam and Giovane were on the roof, the leaders went around inside to go up via the stairs. Just when the Goliath was about to go out of the main room, Jung Fei opened fire. The Goliath turned and attacked but Jung Fei was able to get out of the inn walking on the ceiling. By splitting the enemy and meeting them on their own terms, the heroes managed to overcome the mercenaries though Xam and Giovane were severely injured during the fight. The party found the Tenebrous Smith's mark on the weapons and the armor. It was clear who sent the assassins and the team could tell they were unusually high skilled and equipped. When the team looked through their opponents' stuff, they found buried at the bottom of the pack a sealed missive with the broken seal of the Xalar Emperor. When they opened it, it was the second courier letter. The letter did not match the team's letter. There were some very subtle insults buried in it. The party didn't know why. Important Dates *Queen Xarnia crowned Summer Solstice 975(?) *The Cursebreakers arrive in Xhama City on day 249 of the same year. *Migos Fehr's ritual takes place on the night of day 281 at the new moon. *The festival that is assaulted by the shadow genies (khayal) happens on day 290. (It celebrates one of the local saint-equivalents believed to be a healer.) *The Cursebreakers leave Xhama City on day 309 of that year. Category: Campaign Category: Session Notes